Ballarat

Central West Victoria

Safe Labor 11.7%

MP

Catherine King (ALP) since 2001. Minister for Regional Australia, Local Government and Territories.

Profile

Based on the city of Ballarat, Victoria's largest inland city, the electorate extends east towards Melbourne as far as Bacchus Marsh, while to the north-east of Ballarat, the electorate also includes Creswick and Daylesford. The electorate covers 4,652 sq.km. (Map)

Redistribution

The only Victorian electorate left unchanged by the redistribution.

Background

The electorate of Ballarat has existed since Federation, though for obscure historical reasons it was spelt Ballaarat until 1977. The electorate is named after the local major city of Ballarat, which in turn apparently derives its name from an Aboriginal word meaning resting or camping place. The seat's first member from 1901-1913 was Alfred Deakin, who served three times Prime Minister of Australia in the first decade after Federation.

Ballarat has been held by both the Liberal and Labor Parties over the decades and has changed hands regularly at elections. It was won by Labor's John Mildren in 1980, the first time Labor had held the seat since the DLP split in the 1950s. Mildren was defeated by Liberal Michael Ronaldson at the 1990 election as Labor suffered significant reverses following the collapse of the State Bank. Ronaldson represented the seat until retiring at the 2001 election, though he has since returned to politics after winning election to the Senate at the 2004 election.

On Ronaldson's retirement, the Liberal Party originally selected a high profile replacement in Russell Mark, a dual Olympic trap shooting medallist, winning gold at Atlanta in 1996 and silver in Sydney in 2000. However, Mark resigned as candidate in mid-August 2001, criticising local party officials and throwing Liberal chances of holding the seat into disarray. Labor had done extremely well in Ballarat at the 1999 state election, a performance repeated at the 2001 Federal election, when Labor's Catherine King achieved a swing of 5.5% to win the seat. It was the largest swing to Labor in any seat at the 2001 election, and Ballarat was the only seat lost by the Howard government that year. Significantly, it had also been the only marginal government seat without a sitting MP.

King retained Ballarat despite a swing against Labor at the 2004 election, and then increased her margin with swings of 8.1% in 2007 and 3.6% in 2010. After decades as a marginal electorate, Labor now holds Ballarat with a double digit margin.

Past Voting Patterns

At both state and federal elections, Ballarat underwent a political change around the turn of the century. Labor won all four Ballarat region seats at the 1999 state election, and gained the federal seat of Ballarat against the national swing in 2001. As the graph below shows, Ballarat was generally more Liberal leaning than Victoria as a whole until 2001, and has since been more Labor leaning.

2013 Ballot Paper (10 Candidates)

Candidate Name

Party

FOSTER, Anne

Australian Christians

ROJAS, Ana

Rise Up Australia Party

DUNNE, Shane Edward

Katter's Australian Party

MATHIESON, Joshua

Sex Party

HODGINS-MAY, Stephanie

The Greens

FITZGIBBON, John

Liberal

VEREKER, Stephen

DLP Democratic Labour

MURPHY, Gerard Anthony

Palmer United Party

CLARK, Shane

Family First Party

KING, Catherine

Australian Labor Party

Candidates

Anne Foster

Australian Christians

Foster was the Christian Democrat candidate in Ballarat West at the 2010 Victorian election.

Shane Edward Dunne

Katter's Australian Party

Dunne is a single parent of four children and is a fitter and turner by trade, a woolclasser and shearer for the last 13 years, and he share farms merino and crossbred sheep. He is heavily involved with Auskick as a coordinator, is a volunteer football umpire with Meredith U12s and helped reform the Elaine Cricket Club after 12 years in recess and the Elaine Tennis club after it closed in 2000.

Stephanie Hodgins-May

The Greens

Hodgins-May is an environmental lawyer and fifth generation Blampied resident. She states that she 'has worked in a professional capacity in community engagement roles at a local level and developed critical negotiation and communication skills in the area of humanitarian and international development at the United Nations'. She also states that her commitment to Green values is demonstrated through her personal lifestyle choices of organic family farming, off-grid low impact living and extensive volunteerism.

John Fitzgibbon

Liberal

40 year-old Fitzgibbon spent his formative years in Mildura where he developed an interest in a career in the media. He spent a decade in different parts of Victoria working as a cameraman/editor before starting work as a Junior Account Manager at radio stations 3BA and Power FM in Ballarat. He has since progressed through the ranks and has been General Manager since 2007. As well as other community work, Fitzgibbon is Director of the North Ballarat Football Club and Board Member of Ballarat Regional Tourism.

Stephen Vereker

DLP Democratic Labour

Vereker lives in Bacchus Marsh and has a background in finance and IT, working with some of Australias top companies. He has a Bachelor of Science and Diploma of Finance and has operated his own finance broking company as well as having worked with big business.

Gerard Anthony Murphy

Shane Clark

Family First Party

Clark has lived in the Ballarat electorate since 2012. He is a qualified IT engineer and is currently working towards qualifications for International Aid and Development / Sustainable Development. He owns his own business, is involved in a local community group in Bacchus Marsh, and has previously worked with one of the local primary schools.

Catherine King

Australian Labor Party

47 year-old King began her career in Ballarat as a social worker and subsequently spent five years working with young people and their families. Immediately before her election, she was working as a consultant specialising in health, education and community services. In 1991, she won the Victorian Young Achiever of the Year Award (Community Service) for her work in the Ballarat community. King won an easy victory at the 2001 Federal election, one of the few bright spots in Labor's performance, and she has easily retained her seat since. King was appointed a Parliamentary Secretary after the 2010 election, becoming Minister for Regional Services, Local Communities and Territories and Minister for Road Safety in March 2013 after the second challenge to Julia Gillard's leadership.